A Childlike Mind
by gemstone1234
Summary: A fire does much more than simply taking away Martin Crieff's life. He survives but it takes his family and his mind. Stuck in a permanent state of regression will his family at MJN step up to the mark in his time of need?
1. Don't let your dreams go up in smoke

_So, hello there. This is my second Cabin Pressure fic so I hope you enjoy it. My updates will be sporadic, some days you may get a couple and then may not hear anything from me for a few weeks. Sorry, that's just how I write. Anyway, here is chapter 1. Unfortunately I do not own Cabin Pressure._

_I would love to hear what you think so please, drop me a review. _

**A Childlike Mind**

**Chapter 1- Don't let your dreams go up in smoke**

Arthur was dragged out of his dream by the repetitive ringing of his mobile phone. Blearily he looked at his clock, three in the morning. Who phoned at three in the morning? Not that he particularly minded; it was just unusual. However when he saw the name 'Martin' displayed he lost all sense of confusion and answered the phone in pure excitement. "Skip! Did you know I was just dreaming about you, well not just you, I was dreaming about all of us. G-ERTI was a unicorn and…"

"Excuse me," interrupted a voice which was definitely not the voice of his captain. "Are you Arthur Shappey?"

"Yes," replied Arthur slowly. "Did you steal Skip's phone because Douglas won't be happy? Well neither will Martin I suppose nor mum, and to be honest I don't think that I'm too happy about it. Unless you buy him a nice new phone because his is quite old."

"This phone was used to call the fire brigade about an hour ago to alert them to a house fire. We found it with a male burn victim and this number was the first one on his contact list. We were hoping you could tell us who it belongs to."

There was a brief pause as Arthur took in this new information. There wasn't a lot on the earth which could stop him talking but he was rendered silent for a few seconds before words started pouring out of his mouth in a great torrent of panic which was ever increasing in volume. "Well this is Skip's phone, that is the phone which you're calling from is Martin's phone. He's a captain, Captain Martin Crieff and he flies for mum. But you see he can't be the one in the fire because he's a Captain and if he's hurt who's going to fly G-ERTI? Someone must have stolen his phone and then got caught in the fire because that person can't be Skip."

At three in the morning Carolyn was woken up by the sound of her son talking in his room the other end of the corridor. She groaned and rolled over in her bed. Arthur always used to talk in his sleep when he was little and some nights the old habit returned. And just like in real life, when her son talked in a dream he talked a lot. Suddenly his mere normal chatting transformed into the tone of someone who was terrified. Her motherly instincts caused her to jump out of bed instantly (she tried to ignore the fact that her son was 29 years old so shouldn't need her to comfort him after a nightmare) and dash down the hallway.

She found him babbling into the phone in a way which scared her. Carolyn plucked the phone out of her son's hand. He turned to look at her, his eyes wide and frightened. Not knowing quite what was wrong she held her free arm out and Arthur instantly ran into it and she held him close. With her other hand she lifted the phone to read the ID then held it to her ear. "Martin, what on earth is going on?" A female voice replied momentarily surprising her.

"May I ask who I am talking to?"

"I'm Carolyn Knapp-Shappey. Why do you have Martin's phone?"

"I'm Sergeant Martha Sutherland. I'm with Fitton Police Department. Who does this phone belong to? It was found with a male burn victim in a house fire and this is the only way we can identify him."

"Um, yes," she stammered. Subconsciously she held her son a little closer. "His name is Martin Crieff; he's a pilot in my airline. I'm his boss," she said uncertainly. "Is he ok?"

"He's alive if that's what you're asking." Carolyn wasn't sure if she felt reassured or terrified by these words. She was, of course relieved that he was alive but from what the woman had said he was obviously hurt.

"Is anyone else hurt?"

"We haven't found any more survivors." Carolyn felt slightly nauseous at this, she found herself envying the woman at the other end of the phone. At least she had a professional façade to hide behind.

"What hospital has he been taken to?"  
"St Margaret's."

"Right, thank you," Carolyn replied before hanging up and turning her attention to Arthur.

"Arthur, get changed. Martin's been hurt but he's still alive. We're going to go and get Douglas then go to the hospital. Understand?" Arthur nodded, there were tears falling slowly down his cheeks but he did exactly as he had been told. By the time Carolyn had made it down the stairs he's made coffee in three travel mugs. Douglas' house was only a ten minute drive away; it'd still be warm by the time they got there. She took hers gratefully before the two of them clambered into the car.

Once they were moving she handed her phone to Arthur. "Phone Douglas and tell him what's going on, and don't go into a huge explanation. Just tell him Martin's hurt and to meet us outside his house." Arthur nodded and phoned Douglas. It took two attempts before the older man answered.

"Carolyn, if you're phoning about an early morning flight it just isn't happening." The pilot's voice sounded rough from sleep.

"It's Arthur," the steward said in response. Something of the situation must have slipped through into his voice because Douglas actually sounded concerned instead of angry when he spoke next.

"Oh, hello Arthur. Is everything ok?"

"No, someone phoned me at three. It was Martin's number so I started telling them about the dream I had where G-ERTI was a unicorn and you and Martin were flying her and…"

"Please get to the point," Douglas interrupted trying to keep any annoyance out of his voice. The young man was obviously flustered and a bit scared.

"Martin was caught in a fire and now he's in hospital. We're just driving over to yours." There was a brief silence.

"I'll meet you outside." And with that Douglas hung up the phone.


	2. Oxygen is an important ingredient

_So here is chapter 2, I tried to make it slightly more light-hearted because this is going to be a rather angst filled fic. I spent today doing research for this instead of revising for my exams, I feel it was time well spent. I will warn you that I am not a doctor so if any treatments are wrong I apologise, feel free to correct me if you wish. It also took me a while to find the information regarding confidentiality laws but I think I got this right. I may be English but that doesn't mean I am well versed in British legislation, not that I've ever needed to be really. It just would have been useful here. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, please review if you have the chance, reviews really do make it so much easier to get motivated to write. _

**A Childlike Mind**

**Chapter 2- Worrying about things you can't control**

Arthur fidgeted nervously in the back seat of the car as they sped towards the hospital. His mum had explained to Douglas exactly what was going on and he was worried. When Douglas Richardson worried something had to be seriously wrong and Arthur knew that. Despite their worry things were about to get a whole lot worse. "Crap," Douglas suddenly muttered under his breath though it seemed loud in the previously quiet car.

"What is it?" Carolyn asked not bothering to try and filter the concern out of her voice.

"Were there any other survivors?"

"Hmm, no, the woman I spoke to on the phone said they hadn't found anymore survivors." The First Officer swore under his breath. "I know; those poor students."

"No," said Douglas loudly. When he continued to speak he lowered his voice into a calmer tone. "He told me he was staying at his mum's this weekend. It was her birthday and Simon and Caitlyn were there too." Carolyn gripped the steering wheel tightly and Arthur let out a horrified gasp. All of them were thinking the same thing. 'Poor Martin.'

* * *

_Four hours later_

The three of them sat in uncomfortable plastic chairs surrounding their captain who was laid unconscious in the bed. All of them thought, though none of them voiced it, how very young he looked. He was lying prone in the bed looking smaller than usual, wires attached to every part of his body, his arms were swathed in bandages and an oxygen mask strapped to his face. Arthur was sat in a seat clutching Martin's hand but he had fallen asleep with his head laid on the bed, it looked incredibly uncomfortable. Carolyn gone in search for a coffee for all of them and Douglas was sat reading a magazine about something, he wasn't really taking anything in. How could he?

It had been a battle once they had arrived to try and find out what had happened and if Martin was ok. Once they had established that Martin really didn't have any more family except a possible Aunt who may or may not live in Sussex they managed to find out a bit of what was going on. The police department and fire brigade were investigating where the fire had originated. His mum had gotten out alive but died a couple of hours later due to her heart condition and smoke inhalation. When they'd found Martin in the burning building he wasn't breathing but hadn't been badly burnt so he probably wouldn't need any skin grafts. Since he hadn't been breathing, and had apparently fallen down the stairs, when they found him as soon as he was stable enough they'd get him an MRI scan to check for any damage. Knowing Martin's luck he'd be paralysed from the neck-down. Apparently he'd been lucky, Douglas laughed at the fact that the onetime his Captain was lucky was when he wasn't the worst off in a quite frankly horrific situation.

* * *

When Martin woke it was both a wonderful and a horrible event. The fact that he had woken up was definitely a good thing, it meant that he would probably survive. He couldn't talk though, not with all of the damage done to his throat and windpipe. Despite it having been forty-eight hours since the event (the longest 48 hours of the crew of MJN's life) he was still on oxygen and whatever drugs it was they used to reduce the permanent damage to his lungs. When Martin awoke it was Douglas who was watching him (the three of them were taking it in turns) and the poor pilot had looked terrified. His eyes were wide and confused much like a child's and it caused something protective within Douglas to stir. Reflexively he reached out and grabbed Martin's hand with his and began muttering reassuring things to him until, about half a minute later, his eyes drifted shut.

Only when Martin had drifted off once again did Douglas buzz a nurse and tell her what happened. She very quickly noted down his vitals and then disappeared only to reappear a few minutes later with a doctor. Of course Douglas was asked to leave whilst the doctor carried out his examinations. He complied taking the time to phone Carolyn and he smiled at the sound of Arthur making _whooping_ sounds the other end of the phone.

There was a brief moment of panic when Douglas returned; tea in hand, and Martin's room was empty. Thankfully the nurse reassured him and told him his friend had been taken down for his MRI scan. So he sat down once again in the horribly uncomfortable plastic chair and stared at his tea as if held the secrets of the universe. Of course it didn't but it would help, he was British, he was born with the innate belief that tea was the solution to every problem.

It wasn't long before Carolyn and Arthur arrived and Martin was still down having his scan. It was quite funny really; his normally emotionally reserved boss was obviously worried about the health of her unpaid pilot because usually she was such a careful driver and would never have covered the distance in such a short space of time. Douglas liked to think that Carolyn would have reacted in the same way if he had been in Martin's situation but he wasn't convinced. There was something about Martin that stirred something protective up within them all, even Arthur who was younger than the Captain.

The First Officer chuckled because he heard his boss and her son approaching before he saw them. Arthur was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement at the prospect that Skip had woken up. And of course he was vocalising his excitement loudly despite Carolyn and several doctors and nurses telling him to shut up. He had a bag clutched in his right hand which was obviously a gift and then a card and pen clutched in the other. His face fell briefly when he saw the empty bed but Douglas quickly explained. Once he was sure Skip was actually ok Arthur began to talk. "I got Martin an otter because of that day we were in Ottery St Mary. Do you remember that Douglas? That was a fun day. But this one is only a toy so it shouldn't eat him like they did St Mary." At this comment Carolyn looked at Douglas quizzically and he gave her a smile in return which earned him a shake of the head. "And also it isn't live so when he's feeling better he'll be able to have it up in the flight deck and he won't mind." At this point Arthur stopped his long spiel during which he hardly stopped for breath. The young man looked at Douglas for approval.

"I'm sure he'll like it," commented Douglas not sure what else to say. Judging by the beam on his face he decided it was probably the right thing to say anyway. "Is this a card we need to sign?" he asked gesturing at the card in Arthur's hand.

"Oh yes, I forgot about that. Everyone else has signed it so it's just you left so we can put it in the envelope afterwards." The First Officer took the card and signed his name which consisted of some very elaborate swirls. "Wow!" exclaimed Arthur. "That's brilliant; can you teach me to write my name like that?" Douglas ignored the Steward and looked at the card, it looked as if everyone at the airfield had signed it and so had Herc. Someone had even signed G-ERTI, someone with very familiar hand-writing. "Carolyn," he started. "Did you write this?" he asked pointing at the name of the aeroplane.

"Herc made me do it," she growled. "So don't say a word."


End file.
